Why Elgin Marbles are rightly ours
Sculptures were given to us by the sultan, says Scots aristocrat
‘It’s not clearly understood’
THEY have long been the crux of an international artistic and diplomatic tussle. But according to a descendant of the Scot who brought them to Britain, the ‘stolen’ Elgin Marbles were actually a gift.
Lord Charles Bruce, 57, has revealed the sculptures in the British Museum were given by a Turkish sultan to Thomas Bruce, Seventh Earl of Elgin.
In return, he received a chandelier and the smallpox vaccine. Removed from the Parthenon in Athens, the sculptures were put on public display in the British Museum in London in 1817. The legitimacy of their transfer has been the subject of a long dispute between the UK and Greek authorities, who claim the Marbles were stolen.
But Lord Bruce, son of the current earl, has defended the museum’s entitlement to the Parthenon Sculptures, claiming his ancestor had permission to remove them from Sultan Selim III, as part of his role as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
He told The Times: ‘The Marbles were a diplomatic gift; it’s a part of the story not clearly understood.
‘The British had cemented a military alliance with the Turks and there was a personal friendship between Elgin and the sultan. They exchanged gifts. There’s a beautiful chandelier from Elgin which still hangs in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul in a room where Lady Elgin taught the sultan’s family to dance the eightsome reel.
‘We also gave them the smallpox vaccine, which prevented an outbreak in Smyrna – and later went on to Baghdad and Bombay and was used to inoculate a million Indians.’
The Marbles were shipped to England between 1801 and 1805 and put on display in a temporary setting before going to the British Museum. In recent years, they have been at the centre of a political wrangle.
International lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of actor George Clooney, has joined the fight to have them returned to Greece.
In June, Jeremy Corbyn said he would hand the ‘stolen’ Elgin Marbles back to Greece if he came to power.
He also suggested he would also back requests from other countries for the return of artefacts brought to the UK during Britain’s imperial past.
At the time, Mr Corbyn told Athens newspaper Ta Nea: ‘The Parthenon Sculptures belong to Greece. They were made in Greece and had been there for many centuries until Lord Elgin took them. As with everything stolen or removed, we should begin constructive talks with the Greek government on their return.’
The British Museum’s website says: ‘Lord Elgin, acting with the full knowledge and permission of the Ottoman authorities, removed about half of the remaining sculptures.
‘Their arrival in London was to make a profound impression upon Western ideas of art and taste.’